After Duan Zhihong and Zhao Jin hurriedly left, Xia Houduan finally had time to voice his confusion: “Prince of Qi poisoned Your Highness?”

Li Shimin laughed bitterly: “Before you came, I wasn’t certain – I only had suspicions. I never thought… it would actually be true!”

Xia Houduan’s face darkened: “Prince of Qi has such audacity to dare poison Your Highness! Isn’t he afraid of His Majesty’s thunderous wrath?!”

Li Shimin said gloomily: “Father’s favor toward me appears gracious, but we both understand it’s merely superficial. Beneath this favor lies a father-son bond that shatters at the slightest touch.”

“Regardless, Your Highness is a current imperial prince, personally appointed by His Majesty as Grand Marshal of Heavenly Strategy. Prince of Qi, he…”

Li Shimin interrupted coldly: “Elder Brother was also present just now. I’m afraid he had a hand in this matter too!”

Even with Xia Houduan’s good temperament, hearing this made him unable to contain himself: “They’ve truly gone mad to dare do such a thing!”

“They’re not mad at all – they’re perfectly lucid.” Li Shimin wiped his face: “As Uncle Xia Hou just said, this poison won’t take effect until around dawn, and by then I’ll be in Prince of Qin’s mansion. How could it be traced back to them?”

Xia Houduan frowned: “Can Your Highness tell me exactly what happened?” He had only heard a brief mention from Duan Zhihong and knew nothing beyond the names of Prince of Qi and the Crown Prince.

“Today is Yuanji’s birthday. When we were hunting in the suburbs some days ago, he mentioned this and insisted I must come tonight…” After recounting what happened at Prince of Qi’s mansion, he said desolately: “Yuanji thought I had drunk too much wine and wouldn’t notice what he was doing, but he didn’t know his hand movements had already been seen by me. Combined with his constant urging me to drink, I was certain there was something wrong with the wine!”

Xia Houduan shook his head repeatedly: “Since Your Highness knew there was something wrong with the wine, why did you still drink it? This… this is like courting death!”

“I don’t know either.” Li Shimin sighed deeply: “Perhaps… I wanted to give them one last chance, to see if they would remember our brotherhood and stop in time. In the end… I was being too hopeful!” When he drank those two cups of wine, his heart was as cold as ice and snow, and it still hadn’t warmed up.

“After experiencing so many things, can’t Your Highness see it yet?” After this statement, Xia Houduan said word by word: “The imperial family has no brothers!”

Li Shimin smiled bitterly: “This time, I truly understand!”

After a moment of silence, Xia Houduan said: “Your Highness, rest assured. Even if they can’t find those medicines, I will do everything in my power to preserve Your Highness’s life. I only ask that Your Highness stop yielding.”

“Yielding?” Li Shimin repeated the word and shook his head: “They’ve already forced me to the edge of a cliff. Where is there left to retreat?”

Xia Houduan nodded with relief: “Then does Your Highness intend to enter the palace and inform His Majesty of this matter?”

“Father?” Li Shimin said sarcastically: “I’ve said before – Father trusts the Crown Prince and Prince of Qi far more than me. Do you think if I go to accuse them without proof, Father will believe me?” This time, his form of address was much more distant. This time… he was truly disheartened and held no more illusions.

Xia Houduan said gravely: “Then Your Highness means to let this matter rest?”

Li Shimin shook his head: “They’ve resorted to such despicable means as poisoning. I certainly won’t let this go. I just… don’t want to resolve this matter through others, even if that person shares your blood.”

Xia Houduan nodded: “I understand. I will do everything to assist Your Highness!”

After this statement, the study fell silent. The lamp on the desk burned quietly. When it had burned halfway down, Li Shimin suddenly stood up and said to the empty air: “Yunyi, you’ve returned. You’ve finally returned. I’ve missed you so much these past years, truly missed you!”

This behavior made Xia Houduan’s expression change dramatically. Damn it, the poison was taking effect this quickly, and he was already hallucinating! He hurriedly took silver needles from his medical kit and quickly inserted them into several major acupoints around Li Shimin’s body to protect his heart meridian from being attacked by poisoned blood. He also took out a detoxification pill for Li Shimin to swallow. Though this medicine wasn’t sufficient to neutralize the datura flower poison, it could slightly counteract the toxicity – better than nothing. He hoped Duan Zhihong and the others could quickly find the herbs in the prescription. If any were missing, this poison could at most be half-resolved, and the remainder would seep into Li Shimin’s limbs and bones. While not fatal, it would leave lasting damage, and even if Hua Tuo were reborn or Bian Que returned to life, they couldn’t dispel this residual poison.

Time passed drop by drop in tense waiting. Despite Xia Houduan’s protection, Li Shimin’s condition continued to deteriorate. Eventually, he found it difficult even to sit in his chair, and hallucinations appeared frequently.

When the first light of dawn appeared in the east, Duan Zhihong and Zhao Jin, who had been running around all night, finally entered carrying a packet of medicine, panting heavily: “Master Xia Hou, we found them all! We found them all!”

Xia Houduan’s eyes lit up as he quickly took the medicine they handed him and examined it carefully. Indeed, not a single ingredient was missing. He nodded: “Very good. Take this down immediately to decoct. Three bowls of water reduced to one bowl. Remember, absolutely don’t let it burn – if it burns, the medicinal efficacy will be ruined.”

After Duan Zhihong went down to prepare the medicine, Zhao Jin looked at Li Shimin, whose breathing was weak and face had turned black, and felt extreme hatred for Li Yuanji. He gritted his teeth: “Your Highness, shall I enter the palace and tell His Majesty about this?”

“No need…” Li Shimin struggled to summon a trace of energy and said weakly: “Just say I suddenly fell seriously ill and cannot attend court. Request leave for a few days.”

“Your Highness!” Zhao Jin thought Li Shimin couldn’t bear to expose Li Yuanji and said urgently: “They’ve even resorted to poisoning – why must you still consider brotherly affection? Are you really going to wait until…” He stopped short of saying the inauspicious words and instead urged: “Your Highness, you cannot continue to indulge them.”

“I won’t indulge them, but now… is not the time to discuss such matters. In any case… do as I say.” After struggling to finish this sentence, Li Shimin was about to faint.

Seeing Zhao Jin still standing there, Xia Houduan knew he couldn’t swallow this injustice and said: “Rest assured, His Highness already has arrangements for this matter. It won’t be overlooked. You mustn’t let momentary anger ruin His Highness’s plans.”

Hearing this, Zhao Jin had to swallow his indignation: “I understand. I’ll go to Taiji Palace immediately to report His Highness’s sudden illness and inability to attend court.”

Shortly after Zhao Jin left, Duan Zhihong entered carrying the prepared medicine. In this brief time, Li Shimin’s face had turned a terrifying blue-black color, his mind was unclear, and his limbs were convulsing. Rather than being fed the medicine, it was more accurate to say it was forced down his throat, though fortunately he managed to drink most of it.